In these years, because of electric power supply instability, for example, due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, companies are demanded to suppress the peak electric power at which an electric power demand takes the maximum value. For example, for previously existing techniques that suppress the peak electric power, there is a technique that uses the batteries of a plurality of notebook PCs (Personal Computers) in a company. The previously existing technique predicts the electric power demand curve and the data of the remaining energy of notebook PC batteries using information such as changes in power consumption and weather forecast in the past, and creates plans of charging and discharging the notebook PC batteries based on the demand curve. The previously existing technique then controls the notebook PC drive mode to switch between battery drive, AC (Alternate Current) drive, and charging batteries under AC drive via a network based on the charging and discharging plans. There related-art example are described, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2012-161202 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2011-254617.
However, the foregoing previously existing technique has a problem in that it is difficult to create charging and discharging plans in a short processing time.
For example, in the case of a large system, the large system performs enormous processes when charging and discharging plans are created for all of notebook PC batteries in a company for individual time zones and optimum charging and discharging plans are created after simulation.